Antonelli beats Russell to secure home victory from 19th in frenetic Italian Grand Prix

Credit: Formula One

Kimi Antonelli made history as the first Italian driver to win the Italian Grand Prix since 1966, with a late move on George Russell for the lead after a thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle with his teammate and a dominant charge from 19th on the grid.

Race Report

As the five lights went out, Gasly led the pack from pole for the first time in his career, covering off Russell and Leclerc. The in-fighting between the Ferrari pair that has often treated us to close but clinical battles got messy this time on home soil, as Leclerc and Hamilton banged wheels, with Hamilton pushed onto the gravel as a result.

Gasly continued to lead through the opening lap, but into Lap 2, Russell slipped past him, as did Leclerc, but Gasly re-passed the Ferrari driver for second.

The following lap, Leclerc suffered a heavy crash out of the Parabolica, losing the car and ending Ferrari’s home race in ruins. The Safety Car was initially called, quickly followed by a full red flag duration.

As Leclerc’s stricken car was recovered and the barriers were mended, and just the green flag once again signalled the re-start of the Grand Prix, an extra formation lap was mandated after Yuki Tsunoda was found to be out of position.

The re-start order was confirmed with Russell followed by Gasly, Max Verstappen, and Franco Colapinto in the top four, as the grid once again launched off the line for the Italian Grand Prix.

Colapinto immediately seized third from Verstappen, but the Red Bull driver retook the lost position, just as the Argentine driver went off into the gravel with a snap of oversteer but managed to rejoin the track in 15th.

By Lap 7, more moves were being made as the top 10 was occupied by Russell, Gasly, Verstappen, Hamilton, Piastri, Kimi Antonelli, Norris, Arvid Lindblad, Oliver Bearman and Tsunoda.

Antonelli had already undone all the damage of the grid penalty, charging from the back of the grid to sixth by Lap 8.

The front of the field was alive with overtakes as Piastri climbed to fourth and Antonelli took fifth. Further ahead, on Lap 12, Russell lost the lead to Verstappen as Norris and Gasly’s battle for sixth began to gain traction.

By Lap 13, Antonelli plucked off another driver in front, now looming large in Russell’s mirrors as he took third from Piastri. It was now a three-way fight for the lead, with Russell closing in on Verstappen but unable to make the pass for the lead and Antonelli hoping for some chaos to capitalise on ahead.

On Lap 15, Russell finally retook the lead, while just behind this intense battle, Piastri and Hamilton were battling it out for fourth. Antonelli sailed past Verstappen the following lap, making it a Mercedes vs Mercedes for the race win.

And by Lap 18, Antonelli had made up 18 places to take the lead of his home Grand Prix, fighting his way to first from 19th on the grid with a move on his teammate into Turn 1.

Lap after lap, Antonelli and Russell continued to go wheel-to-wheel, scrapping for the victory. Russell retook the lead multiple times, but Antonelli managed to pass Russell each time.

At this stage, the team quickly intervened and requested Antonelli to maintain position, as their priority was building the gap to Verstappen. Antonelli was frustrated with the message and made his thoughts clear over the radio.

On Lap 26, Antonelli ran straight through the first chicane, collecting gravel on his medium tyres, as Verstappen began to close in. 

Further back, Norris had passed Gasly and was now chasing Hamilton for fifth, while Fernando Alonso had retired with damage.

The following lap, Lance Stroll became the second Aston Martin to retire, stopping the car and prompting the Virtual Safety Car (VSC). This allowed Antonelli and Verstappen to pit, while Russell stayed out on the hard tyres.

We returned to green flag conditions on Lap 30, with the top 10 covered by Russell, Piastri, Hamilton, Norris, Antonelli, Gasly, Verstappen, Lindblad, Tsunoda and Colapinto — the Argentine driver recovering to the points after his early trip through the gravel that knocked him down to 15th.

Meanwhile, Antonelli was busy making a statement of intent as he immediately cleared Norris, now chasing Hamilton for third. Up ahead, Russell’s gap to Piastri in second was 7.8 seconds, but potential trouble began brewing as he was noted for a yellow flag infringement. 

On Lap 35, Hamilton went off, complaining about his “terrible” tyres, giving Antonelli to cruise past the Ferrari driver to third. Two laps later, the Italian driver returned to second place, just as Russell was flagged for investigation for the yellow flag infringement. 

Meanwhile, Verstappen got past Piastri, taking third but still having the McLaren driver too close for comfort. It was once more a case of pass and re-pass between the pair, just as it was confirmed that Russell’s infringement was no longer under investigation. Piastri took third, while a lock-up for Verstappen compromised him a little on Lap 43 but didn’t stop him from retaking the position from Piastri.

Meanwhile, the gap between Russell and Antonelli began to close up, now down to just 5.5 seconds with 10 laps to go. As the laps started to tick down, we were all set for a match-up between the two Mercedes drivers and a battle for third between Verstappen and Piastri to wrap things up, with Norris now joining the scrap.

The gap was now one second between Russell and Antonelli, with five laps to go.

Behind the tantalising battle for the lead, Norris passed Piastri for fourth. Now that Antonelli was within a second of Russell, tensions were inches away from spilling over, and spill they did when Antonelli bounced through the gravel through Turn 2 while attempting to pass Russell.

The Italian driver recovered swiftly, and made his final, championship-defining move on Lap 51, taking the lead from Russell and cruising off into the distance through the final two laps to take an impossible victory from 19th on the grid, building a 3.8-second gap to Russell.

Up Next

No rest for the grid, as we immediately head to Spain next week for the inaugural Grand Prix in Madrid. With plenty to get on top of around the new street circuit, the action will resume from 11th to 13th September.